Mazes Blazes

Mazes Blazes is the whacked-out second (or third) album from Chicago's Mazes (The original Mazes, by the way, not the Manchester band who stole the name, those wankers). While Mazes' 2009 self-titled debut, an underground hit of sorts, was an outlet for songwriter Edward Anderson (of The 1900s) to indulge in low-stress, off-the-cuff recordings, Mazes Blazes is much more a product of the bad-ass band that was formed to play that album live. Along with founding members Caroline Donovan (also of The 1900s) and Charles d’Autremont (international man of mystery), the Mazes has grown to include Tom Smith (formerly of Office and Old Fake) on bass, and drummer Pat Cavanaugh.

Mazes Blazes is a ‘Merican album at its gooey center, and its sweetly sarcastic songs occupy themselves amidst endless summer days, picking up dime bags at the arcade, hesher teens, Saturday nights, half-baked peace protests, cartoon imperialism, gender bending nihilism, stolen diaries and what comes after all that, if anything. The band's sound is inspired by the fearlessly fun records that first opened the bands’ minds in their formative years, including classic New Zealand pop, GBV and Ween.

To record Mazes Blazes, the band habitually returned to the crime scene of their first album, d’Autremont’s Maximum Automatic Studio (RIP), now home to fellow Chicagoan Devin Davis’s Dreamcastle. Those sessions were combined with recordings from Anderson’s Logan Square apartment, with much patience from the downstairs neighbors. Mixing was done by regular collaborator (and Anderson’s cousin) Tim Sandusky (who mixed the first Mazes album and the 1900s’ Return of the Century). But in an attempt to eff things up, it was decided that the album be mixed in a single, marathon 24 hour session. And so it was. The album was then mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk, known for his work on all the Mississippi Records releases.

The album is a co-release between Parasol Records and the band’s new Sanzimat International imprint.